EUKARYOTIC GENE EXPRESSION
July 16 - August 5, 2008
Application Deadline: March 15, 2008

Instructors:
Joaquin Espinosa, University of Colorado at Boulder
Lee Kraus, Cornell University
Thomas Oelgeschlager, Marie Curie Research Institute, UK
Ali Shilatifard, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

The Eukaryotic Gene Expression Course is designed for students, postdocs, and principal investigators who have recently ventured into the exciting area of gene regulation. The course will focus on state-of-the-art strategies and techniques employed in the field. Emphasis will be placed both on in vitro and in vivo protein-DNA interactions and on novel methodologies to study gene regulation. Students will make nuclear extracts, perform in vitro transcription reactions and measure RNA levels using primer extension. Characterizations of the DNA-binding properties of site-specific transcription factors will be carried out using electrophoretic mobility shift and DNase I footprinting assays. In addition, students will learn techniques for the assembly and analysis of chromatin in vitro. This will include transcription assays, chromatin footprinting and chromatin remodeling assays.

Over the past few years, the gene regulation field has developed in vivo approaches to study gene regulation. Students will be exposed to the chromatin immunoprecipitation technique. They will also use RNAi for specific knock-down experiments in mammalian cells. In addition, determining cellular gene expression profiles has been accelerated tremendously by DNA microarray technology. Students will receive hands-on training in performing and interpreting results from DNA microarrays.

Experience with basic recombinant DNA techniques is a prerequisite for admission to this course. Lectures by the instructors will cover the current status of the gene expression field, theoretical aspects of the methodology, and broader issues regarding strategies for investigating the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. Guest lecturers will discuss contemporary problems in eukaryotic gene regulation and technical approaches to their solution.

Speakers in the 2007 course:
Peter Becker, University of Munich, Germany
Shelley Berger, Wistar Institute
Wendy Bickmore, MRC Human Genetics Unit, UK
Stephen Buratowski, Harvard Medical School
Joan Conaway, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Peter Fraser, Babraham Institute UK
Steven Hahn, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Robert Kingston, Mass General Hospital/Harvard Med School
Michael Levine, University of California, Berkeley
Robert Roeder, The Rockefeller University
Patrick Schultz, IGBMC, France
Ramin Shiekhattar, The Wistar Institute
Laszlo Tora, IGBMC, France
Jerry Workman, The Stowers Institute for Medical Research

This course is supported with funds provided by the National Cancer Institute

Cost (including board and lodging): $3,850
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